HE played more than 500 club games, has coached teams across the globe and guided CSU to one of the biggest grand final upsets witnessed in the Central West - it is fair to say that Dave Conyers is a rugby union guru.
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So when it comes to tipping a winner for Saturday's 2019 Rugby World Cup final, who better to ask than Conyers?
He has watched on the past five weeks as the hopefuls for the Webb Ellis Cup have been whittled down to just two - South Africa and England.
Conyers feels if England can replicate the way they played in their 19-7 semi-final win over New Zealand they will win, but knows the Springboks have a potential game-breaker in scrumhalf Faf de Clerk.
Here's his take on the contenders.
ENGLAND
WHILE critical of some of the selections two-time defending champions New Zealand made for last week's semi-final, Conyers was ultra impressed by how England dictated terms to the All Blacks.
Even though they scored just one try in their 19-point tally, England's attacking pieces caught his eye while their work at the breakdown was also clinical.
"Their attack was just unbelievable, it really reminded me of a rugby league style of attack with the decoy runners and the ball going in behind all the time," he said.
"Just their effort in the contact and their leg drive - from the first five minutes they just set the tone with how they were going to play.
"I think New Zealand made some bad selections, a bit like Australia they'd been toying around with the team for awhile, they brought a couple of blokes in that didn't do their job, especially at the breakdown. England absolutely destroyed them there.
"I just think England collectively, they've just got everyone in all positions working how they should be working. I think if they repeat anywhere like they did against New Zealand, they should win easy."
Another reason why Conyers feels England should start as favourites is their coaching staff, led by Eddie Jones.
"Eddie, he's just got an excellent record of doing well wherever he goes," Conyers said.
"He is pretty astute at who he picks to help and the guys he's brought in have really done their jobs in the attack and defence areas for sure.
"He's got it down to a T, I think he's probably got a plan b if something goes wrong with plan a. That guy is very astute and it was exciting rugby they way they were playing [against New Zealand].
"Even though they only scored one try it was still exciting rugby. They had two tries disallowed, but they were still two really well-engineered plays which deserved tries.
"I think they still would have scored them had they not made those minor errors, so New Zealand really could've had 30 points put on them."
SOUTH AFRICA
SPRINGBOKS coach Rassie Erasmus has stated his side will stick to their game plan based around kicking for territory and utilising their strong forward pack when it comes to Saturday's final.
But Conyers feels that would be a mistake. He said they must stop relying on the box kick and look to play more expansive rugby if they want to unsettle the English.
"For some reason and I don't know why, they just wanted to persist with the box kick," he said.
"They've certainly got to change their attack if they want to win, they can't rely on the the box kick. The Welsh countered it pretty well with the way they were catching it and I thought they were better under the high ball than what the South Africans were.
"The English won't be afraid to run it, so I don't think they'll want to kick it back to England, they've got to take that our of their game.
"They need to get back to rumbling through their forwards, they've got a massive pack and, a bit like England did in that first 20 minutes against New Zealand, they've got to get their forwards hammering through and draw some people in.
"I don't think they've got that in their game plan to be honest, they don't seem to play an expansive attack."
When asked to nominate one player who could break open the decider, Conyers nominated Springboks number 9 de Clerk.
Naturally he'd like to see him kick less, but said if that is the way the South Africans are intent on playing, de Clerk needs to make alterations there as well.
"I think he's got another dimension of attack, I think he's probably going to be a key to how well they are going to go, but he's obviously got to stop the kicking," Conyers said.
"Five metres out when you're in trouble okay, but the biggest problem is that he didn't put them up high enough. The Welsh had time to catch them and do something with it, if you're going to box kick it you have to put snow on it."
The other area Conyers feels will be critical for South Africa is the breakdown.
It was an area in which England excelled against the All Blacks, but the experienced mentor still expects to see the Springboks counter-rucking come Saturday.
"South Africa are aggressive at the breakdown too, against the Welsh they weren't just prepared to stand there and hold," he said.
"They were putting their bodies in through the ruck, in through the middle and do whatever they could, especially in the first half of the game, to disrupt the Welsh.
"The Welsh had to put extra people into the rucks to try and counter that and that took away from their game plan."
The Rugby World Cup final at Yokohama Stadium kicks off at 8pm AEDT.